GRAPE BOTANY 311 



ing down aerial roots. Wood hard, bark smooth, not scaling, with 

 prominent warty lenticels ; shoots short-jointed, angled, with fine 

 scurfy pubescence ; diaphragms absent ; tendrils intermittent, simple. 

 Leaves small, broadly cordate or roundish ; petiolar sinus wide, 

 shallow ; margin with obtuse, wide teeth ; not lobed ; dense in texture, 

 light green color, glabrous above, sometimes pubescent along veins 

 below. Cluster small (6-24 berries), loose; peduncle short; pedicels 

 short, thick. Berries large, globular or somewhat oblate, black or 

 greenish-yellow ; skin thick, tough and with a musky odor ; pulp 

 tough ; ripening unevenly and dropping as soon as ripe. Seeds 

 flattened, shallowly and broadly notched ; beak very short ; chalaza 

 narrow, slightly depressed with radiating ridges and furrows ; raphe a 

 narrow groove. Leafing, flowering and ripening fruit very late. 



The habitat of this species is southern Delaware, west through 

 Tennessee, southern Illinois, southeastern Missouri, Arkansas 

 (except the northwestern portions), to Grayson County, Texas, 

 as a northern and western boundary, to the Atlantic Ocean and 

 the Gulf on the east and south. It becomes rare as one ap- 

 proaches the western limit but is common in many sections of 

 the great region outlined above, being most abundant on sandy, 

 well-drained bottom lands and along river banks and in swampy, 

 thick woodlands and thickets. The climate most suitable for 

 Rotundifolia is that in which cotton grows, and it thrives best 

 in the lower portions of the cotton-belt of the United States. 



The fruit of Rotundifolia is very characteristic. The skin 

 is thick, has a leathery appearance, adheres strongly to the 

 underlying flesh and is marked with lenticel-like russet dots. 

 The flesh is more or less tough but the toughness is not localized 

 around the seed as in the case of Labrusca. The fruit and 

 most of the varieties of the species are characterized by a strong, 

 musky aroma and are lacking in sugar and acid. Some varieties 

 yield over four gallons of must to the,* bushel. Wine-makers 

 are divided in opinion as to its value for wine-making, but at 

 present the most promising outlook for Rotundifolia varieties 

 is as wine, grape-juice and culinary grapes. Rotundifolia does 

 not produce fruit suitable for shipping as dessert grapes chiefly 

 because the berries ripen unevenly and when ripe drop from the 



